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Lord Odham Kendar
Biography Odham Kendar is the oldest son of Olav Kendar. Born in 449 AR, Odham was trained from birth to lead the most powerful house in the Realm. His father instilled the typical Kendar desire for order and control within him. Alongside this Odham learned to use both a sword and springun in battle with deadly skill. In his prime he was widely regarded as one of the greatest warriors in the Realm. Before ascending to Lordship he saw Lord Olav Kendar support his rival Janrad Norn when the Leibowitz attempted to declare war over Norn's election to Reciever. Norn-Kendar War After ascending to the throne, Odham pursued peace with the Norn's via marraige. Ywain, Odham's younger brother, was engaged to a Norn noble lady, a move which both Houses expected would bring lasting peace. However, due to secret Leibowitz interfence, the marriage fell through and the Kendars and Norns went to war. While Odham won almost all the initial engagements he lost his army and Audra in a Norn trap. The Norn's collapsed a massive tunnel, destroying both it and Odham's main force. Crippled, the two sides treated, but with much resent. The Death of Janrad Nine years after the end of the war, Janrad Norn perished, leaving House Norn with a new leader and the Realm listless. After spending these years mostly in mourning, Odham threw himself into House management. At the funeral he treated with Lord Djevak, fixing food prices at an enormously high rate to the benefit of both houses. Afterwards he set up a meeting between Kavin Norn and Roman Kendar, Odham's only child. After the funeral Odham joined the Djevaki on campaign against the mutants of the March, but returned after a month to find Roman dead and the house betrayed. Enraged, Odham treated with House Redmond to betray Norn and began applying immediate pressure on the Norn's to pay reparations for Roman's actions and subsequent death. After writing back and forth with Kavin over the course of several months Odham realized the Norn's had no intention of working with House Kendar. Still bitter over the death of his entire immediate family, he planned to kill Kavin. Rising Aggression Odham convinced Kavin to meet him in a remote location away from all possible witnesses. Taking the Lancer's under Sark Leviticus and his brother Ywain, Odham planned to ambush Kavin along the route. However, Ywain failed to escape before the shooting started and Kavin and his heavy mechs proved more durable than the group anticipated. Though Kavin and the mechs were killed a squad of Norn soldiers fled and Ywain was mortally injured. Still, most of the major houses overlooked the Norn's outrage and Odham satisfied House M'kai (whose territory he had entered) by taking Anna M'kai as his wife. As tensions escalated, Odham continued to focus on the military, growing Kendar's standing army to immense proportions and delving into tech stables, tanks, and other mechanical wonders. However, most of his time was spent on campaign in the Mold Marsh fighting mutants and then the Depths, fighting pagans from beyond the Realm. It was then that Lord Redmond and Lord Djevak, Odham's two closest friends and allies, went to war. Alarmed at Djevak's growing power and wealth, Redmond intended to destroy the house. Odham realized that Redmond could never win and swiftly drained Redmond of all it's unique tech and weapons through numerous trade deals before the house collapsed. Still, Liber Djevak crushed Redmond even more thoroughly than anticipated, even after House Leibowitz joined in the invasion. Worried that Djevak would seize both the Wastes and Dorith's End, Odham moved 15 divisions to Dorith's End and assumed control on Celvyn Leibowitz' authority. He exported most of the House's resources to the Hab Spires and remained for several months until it was clear his position was politically untenable. With Lord Leibowitz under control of Lord Djevak due to incredible tech, Odham was left with no authority to remain. The Church aggressively attacked both Leibowitz and Kendar politically, making leaving much more palatable. The Cold War After the Leibowitz debacle, Djevak-Kendar relations cooled substantially, with Odham worried that Djevak's army of undead would bully its way to power. The biggest point of contention occured around the Fiber Tower. House Djevak has previously destroyed the Tower, with the refugees filtering to both Djevak and Kendar. Home to incredible technology, both Odham and Djevak helped the Sorcerers repair, with both Houses hoping to gain the favor of the powerful group. As repairs proceeded Odham raised several new knights, most notably Sark Leviticus, to assist him. Primarily relying on Maud Atlee, he rehibilitated Kendar's image abroad and worked to improve Kendar's espionage. In the process Odham treated with the new House Aedirn that had established itself in the Marsh and Wastes. Agreeing to attack House Djevak if they ever attacked, Odham also built exit points for his Redmond teleporter in the Marsh, planning to ambush Djevak if they ever proved too aggressive. Outwardly, Djevak and Kendar remained friendly. They hosted events together and planned to vote for each other should an election for Reciever happen. At one such event disaster struck. Maud Atlee was struck down in a diplomatic incident and Layna Kendar succumbed to a poison attack. Both died. Odham was forced to bring one back from the dead and condemn the other. After much deliberation he chose to recover Maud in secret, claiming that he had tried and failed to help Layna. During this time tensions in the Tower finally resolved as well. With repairs complete Odham moved a small force to the area to secure it for Lord Medus, his sorcerer vassal. However, Djevak had also arrived with the intention of installing their sorcerer over the Tower. In the confusion, Ser Redmond (the ex-Lord Redmond) slaughtered his own Kendar troops through poor choices. Now outnumbered and betrayed by his vassal Lord Medus, Odham was forced to withdraw alongside Djevak. The Election Shortly thereafter, Cirilla Leibowitz assumed control of House Liebowitz and initiated a run for Reciever. Lord Djevak ran against her, with Odham allowing Maud to mount his own run for the position. Odham chose to release information he had indicating Cirilla had murdered the older Partaker of the Church to Djevak. However, Djevak failed to make effective use of it after fighting their way to the Hall of the Reciever. Realizing the tide had turned in favor of Cirilla or Leibowitz, Odham dismissed Maud to investigate a problem with the Church's sacrament. After casting a vote for Cirilla, with his vassals following, Djevak approached Odham demanding he switch his vote in the run-off. Odham delayed, bitter at Djevak for breaking their past agreements concerning the trade of food and the hostilities that had plagued the two Houses for the last six months. However, before he could change his mind he experienced a siezure similar to those he had suffered for the last several years of his life. Paralyzed with pain and fading into unconsciousness, Odham was hauled away and failed to switch his vote. As such, Cirilla was elected Reciever. The New Regime While he briefly considered fighting the Reciever should she demand Kendar contribute excessively to the Realm's other Houses, Odham rejected the plan and ended up working amicably with the Reciever. Instead he poured resources into developing and building dozens of new vehicles designed to quickly ferry his troops into battle while providing cover and fire support. Then, war broke out between Thule of the Wastes and the Realm. Odham initially pretended to befriend Thule, selling him thousands of Geld worth of resources, including explosives. Odham advised Thule to plant the explosives in his keep and prepare to lure the Reciever inside. Immediately after, he treated with the Reciever, agreeing to help her destroy Thule if she would grant him the Wastes. He arrived with the combined armies of Kendar and the Reciever as well as a plan to blow up the keep via a teleported spy. He waited outside and offered the thousands of mercenaries surrounding the keep money and position if they surrendered. They refused initially. However, after the keep was assaulted by dozens of teleporter attacks Thule and his mercenaries surrendered. 10 full divisions joined Kendar, ensuring that Kendar had over 100 divisions at its command as well as state of the art technology for every man and machine. Later Life After these events Odham largely withdrew from public view. Instead he used his enormous power and military to reinforce his heir and the Protector Maud Atlee. However, shortly before his death he finally managed to have a son, disrupting all his work. While Odham was almost universally loved in the Hab Spires, his heir and Maud were not endowed with the same trust. Personality Odham Kendar was a hard man and for nearly 15 years after his wife Audra's death he was a man of steel. While Odham's father Olav taught him honor and order, Audra's death changed him. He chose to favor direct control of every possible thing over the order of the Realm. It motivate his manipulation of the economy, the massive military he built, and his foreign affairs. Thus, while Odham was remarkably savvy and politically astute, he often failed to follow proper protocal out of sheer pride and desire to personally manage the Realm. However, Odham proved unable to control the instability of the Interregnum. In the months leading up to the election Odham chose to humble his pride in an effort to secure a brighter future for his people and maintain control over the power he had acquired. Odham was also a clinically depressed man after Audra's death. When Ywain and Roman died his health only worsened. Eventually, he found out the entire war had been a set-up, leading him to collapse even further. Hallucinations, wrathful outbursts, and seizures often resulted.